Commissioners reject plan to shift sales tax dollars to fund zoo, museum, parks. Here’s why

A proposal by some Sedgwick County commissioners to use sales tax dollars instead of property tax dollars to pay for quality of life programs has failed.

The proposal would have given half of the revenue generated by the county’s current one percent sales tax to the Sedgwick County Zoo, Exploration Place, and other cultural programs. That half, about $18 million, now goes to the general fund.

The sales tax comes from a 1985 ballot initiative passed by voters to help fund road projects, and half of the money still goes to roads and other infrastructure projects.

Commissioners voted 3-2 against the move, saying the proposal was just semantics since it wouldn’t provide relief for property owners.

The vote does not have a large impact on property tax dollars because the sales tax money that would be shifted from the general fund already helps the county not increase the mill levy.

“The money is fungible,” County Commissioner David Dennis said, “and every commission that gets elected here, the five people that sit on here [in the future] are going to be different. I’m not going to say that I know better than they know on exactly how to spend that money… there is no possible way I would ever handcuff future commissioners and I would never vote for this proposal.”

The two who voted for the proposal — Ryan Baty and Jim Howell — had previously spoken in favor of it.

“It’s about … principles,” Baty said. “I truly believe property tax dollars should go towards core functions, and sales tax dollars to go to things that we deem are not core functions.”

The county’s one percent sales tax was passed in 1985. Some commissioners had questions about the legality of shifting dollars from the fund and how much it actually bringing in.

“There’s been a lot of conflicting statements that I’ve been listening to,” Commissioner Pete Meitzner said. “I’m all for bringing it up and reviewing again in the future, but at this point, I’m going to vote no.”

Sedgwick County is also looking at an additional sales tax to be shared with cities within the county with the intention of lowering property taxes. That new tax would require approval from the state Legislature to go on a future ballot. Any public vote probably wouldn’t happen until 2026.